Bridging the Funding Gap: How Women’s Funds Empower Local Innovators

What role do women’s funds play in empowering grassroots initiatives? With global aid cuts and disproportionately low support for women and girls, the urgency to mobilize funding for feminist movements has never been greater. A recent global survey by UN Women found that 47% of 411 women-led and women’s rights organizations across 44 crisis-affected countries expect to shut down within six months. 

Rooted in feminist values, accountable to grassroots communities, and equipped to respond with urgency, women’s funds are uniquely positioned to step in to fill this critical gap. Myriad USA spoke with three leaders in this space from the nonprofit network of American Friends Fund partners to learn more about the importance of this work, particularly in this moment: 

• Founded over 40 years ago, Mama Cash is the first international women’s fund created to provide direct funding to women, girls, and trans-led movements. Today, it continues to serve as a lifeline for frontline activists and has provided over €140 million in funding to feminist movements worldwide.
• Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS) supports organizations across Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay focusing on rural, grassroots, and under-resourced communities. In 2024 alone, FMS supported 243 organizations—168 of them grassroots and 73 are based in rural areas.
• Since 2004, Women’s Fund Asia (WFA) has been committed to advancing the human rights of women, girls, trans, and intersex people across the region. To date, WFA has supported more than 1600 grants with $30 million committed to advancing equality and justice for diverse communities. 

What is the unique role of women’s funds in reaching grassroots movements? 

Women’s funds are committed to shifting power in philanthropy. Through participatory grantmaking, they transfer decision-making to grassroots leaders. Open calls and decentralized and participatory processes enhance access, reduce bias, and ease administrative burdens, ensuring funding reaches rural, often overlooked, and marginalized groups while redistributing power more equitably. 

“We prioritize organizations that are self-led by people with lived experience of the issues they are addressing. If a group of girls is working on climate change, then that organization must be led by girls who have experienced and are actively working on climate change,” says Happy Mwende Kinyili, Co-Executive Director, Mama Cash. 

Women’s funds reach grassroots, volunteer-led initiatives often missed by others—groups rich in local knowledge and first to respond to crises, but not always formally registered. This reach stems from long-term trust built on values like mutual learning and solidarity. FMS builds five-year partnerships that include hands-on training and site visits. Mama Cash offers decade-long support, providing not only funding but also capacity building and access to global networks. WFA centers language justice in its approach, offering open calls for proposals in 14 Asian languages to ensure accessibility and inclusion.

What are the most common misconceptions funders hold about such funds? 

Too Niche: Feminist movements are vital to democracy, climate resilience, and economic justice. As Anisha Chugh, Sanjana Gaind, and Biplabi Shrestha from the WFA’s team note, “women’s rights are often confined to the narrow ‘gender box,’ instead of being seen as cross-cutting.” 

Funding Already Exists: Mama Cash receives over 2,000 applications annually but funds only 15—not due to lack of capacity, but limited resources. More funds would mean greater reach. 

Impact Can Only Be Measured with Data: Impact is measurable, but not just in numbers. Donors must value both data and real-world outcomes, like safer communities and safety from violence, to truly evaluate what grantees achieve.